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Topic: Help !! - 88 Tbird Engine compartment, parts lost..:( (Read 3665 times) previous topic - next topic

Help !! - 88 Tbird Engine compartment, parts lost..:(

Reply #15
Take a closer look :) There was a leakage on cylinder head gasket and the engine overheated. So, they overhauled cylinder heads and replaced the water pump. Car has been there quite a while! ( I said there's no hurry with it...mistake number 1..). My friends business associate cleaned the place up and threw those parts away. He thought they were garbage! I still don't understand why he didn't ask anything before he did that!! ( In my opinion, he's not the sharpest tool in the shed)...

I took more photos today. Is there only crankshaft front oil seal missing and then the harmonic balancer ? I can see the timing chain gears! Photos are at my photobucket album "markkujaakkola" under the folder Tbird engine. I can't post a link here :/

Thanks Daminc,
No idea, if I did have one or two tensioners :( How ever, I did receive parts list from Ford dealer, but they said that they can't provide those parts(picture attached) anymore. Looks like there's not mentioned even one tensioner ?? I'll have to ask them again. Part number for air pump and alternator are also missing.

Looks like there are two different air pumps available

A-1 CARDONE Part # 32291 {Remanufactured}
w/I.D. #E8ZE-BA

A-1 CARDONE Part # 32415 {Remanufactured}
w/I.D. #E8SE-AA, E8SE-AB

Help !! - 88 Tbird Engine compartment, parts lost..:(

Reply #16
84-87 used a different pulley and accessories set up all together. 83 were carbed I do belive.
Quote from: jcassity
I honestly dont think you could exceed the cost of a new car buy installing new *stock* parts everywhere in your coug our tbird. Its just plain impossible. You could revamp the entire drivetrain/engine/suspenstion and still come out ahead.
Hooligans! 
1988 Crown Vic wagon. 120K California car. Wifes grocery getter. (junked)
1987 Ford Thunderbird LX. 5.0. s.o., sn-95 t-5 and an f-150 clutch. Driven daily and going strong.
1986 cougar.
lilsammywasapunkrocker@yahoo.com

Help !! - 88 Tbird Engine compartment, parts lost..:(

Reply #17
Quote from: Haystack;293529
84-87 used a different pulley and accessories set up all together. 83 were carbed I do belive.


yes, and almost everything is opposite on the motor too. including battery, wiring, throttle cable, and fuel lines.

I'm gonna miss mine. Lots of good times, and never let me down.

[SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]
***** Project "EVOLUTION" 1987 Cougar LS  & 1985 Cougar Convertible *****
[/COLOR]
5.0 HO 306 roller block, machined GT-40P heads, Wiseco dished forged pistons, Eagle forged floating I-beam connecting rods, Lunati pushrods, ARP bolts, Scorpion aluminum 1.6 rockers, Comp Cams Magnum 266HR, Explorer intake, 65mm TB, MAF Conversion, 19# injectors, Ford Racing stainless P-headers, 2-1/2" cat-less exhaust w/ Flowtech Afterburner lers , SC AOD with 2800 BDR torque converter, 3.73 T-Lok rear, CHE rear control arms, full 2-1/2" frame w/1" jacking rails & seat supports, Rear disk brakes, Turbine wheels, All original interior w/ floor shift upgrade .......
Pretty much every panel on my 87 is new, rebuilt, or re constructed. :D
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Help !! - 88 Tbird Engine compartment, parts lost..:(

Reply #18
Bigblockhead
Your parts you need are very easy to find here in the states.

do not use any parts from 87 and down as everything Haystack said is dead on correct.  In our world of these cars here, the 88 model was a one year only deal.

Your resources for the brakets needs to be from *ANY CAR* with the 3.8L fuel injected engine but stay as close to your year as possible but nothing from 87 and earlier will work.

Again, these parts are very easy and much remaining to be had here still.

The engine Daminic posted is of a previous model 1987 3.8L engine.
As he stated and is common sense here, the 87/88 engines are reverse negative of eachother and to include some pully and intake changes.  no brakets on that car will work.

looks like your buddy was collecting up aluminum in my opinion.

If you like, and you can wait a little while longer, I can get the parts for you at a junk yard.  I really dont have any spare time lately though so keep that in mind.

  Another option would be to pay someone here who goes to the junk yards often and just simply place your order with them.  You may have to pay for the parts / labor / shipping but it is what needs done.  For what I see you need, I would pay whatever it took to get past this simple problem right now. 

There are several people here who regularly go to yards and score parts.  Pay thier time / parts / shipping and i bet you have parts before COB of october.

In addition, you do not need the smog pump.  You will need to dead end the vac hoses that lead to the smog system (tan and black lines if i recall correctly).  You will need to  pinch off the tube on the exhaust where the smog hooks up and as well, cap off the area where the smog connected to on the intake.  after this is done, you simply install the shorter belt.  The reason is two, you save money, less parts and you delete this part that generally carbons up your throttle body and EGR anyway.  The issue in my mind is that I can not remember if there was a special way to add a shorter belt on the 88 3.8L.  On the 87 3.8, its as simple as removing the smog pully and little plastic fan, then run in a shorter belt.

I really need someone to post up a pic of the 88 3.8L if they have one so this guy sees something, otherwise ill have to dig through a bunch of random posts to find them for him.

as an alternative resort,, check this parts resource site out...........

http://www.car-part.com/

Help !! - 88 Tbird Engine compartment, parts lost..:(

Reply #19
here is everything you will ****EVER**** need to know about the 3.8L engine and the evolution of its block / guts.

You will see why we are saying a lot of things changed in 88.

by the way,,, it took me a half hour to find this article as I had it saved in my diy link in word but couldnt remember where it came from.

http://www.enginebuildermag.com/Article/2393/rebuilding_the_ford_38l_engine.aspx



Eric
you should link the above site to coolcats.net, its a good piece of history for the car.

Now if i can only find a similair article for the 2.3 and 5.0 that would complete the mission.

Help !! - 88 Tbird Engine compartment, parts lost..:(

Reply #20
Nice to see nabers in this forum !
tervetuloa!
Best wishes from Estonia !

Help !! - 88 Tbird Engine compartment, parts lost..:(

Reply #21
for the balancer, 88 FWD and RWD only, or 99 up 3.8 mustang, or 89-95 super charged 3.8 tbird or 89-90 XR7 cougar. If you do this, you should be able to use any 89-97 3.8 front accessories  and pullies from a tbird or cougar. They use different alternators at the very least. I would stick to the earlier years to be safe. If you do go junk yarding, it would probably be cheaper to buy the whole block then everything piece by piece.

I also cannot guarantee all of this to be correct, but it should be a good starting point.
Quote from: jcassity
I honestly dont think you could exceed the cost of a new car buy installing new *stock* parts everywhere in your coug our tbird. Its just plain impossible. You could revamp the entire drivetrain/engine/suspenstion and still come out ahead.
Hooligans! 
1988 Crown Vic wagon. 120K California car. Wifes grocery getter. (junked)
1987 Ford Thunderbird LX. 5.0. s.o., sn-95 t-5 and an f-150 clutch. Driven daily and going strong.
1986 cougar.
lilsammywasapunkrocker@yahoo.com

Help !! - 88 Tbird Engine compartment, parts lost..:(

Reply #22
Are there any replacement balancers for 1988 models available ? I checked from BHJ dynamics website, but they list only for 89-> up SC model balancers.

jcassity, Thank you very much for the link and information. Thanks to others too, you have been very helpful. I spotted a 92 Tbird from local junkyard, if I take all the parts from it and find a new 88 3.8 balancer.. it could work ?

Help !! - 88 Tbird Engine compartment, parts lost..:(

Reply #23
power steering pump is the same part number. Uses a 65 amp alt, which should be compatable with what you had, smog pump you don't need and water pump is the same. Belt tensioner and accesories should be very similar. The brackets will be different, but I don't see how it could hurt as long as it fits in there.

The fact that the water pump is the same means that all the pullies should line up. Next time I'm at the junkyard I will see if I can take a picture of both an 88 and 89 up motor. the only real question is the ac compressor.

*edit*

according to autozone, even the AC compressor is the same. I cannot guarantee it, but I think it will work.
Quote from: jcassity
I honestly dont think you could exceed the cost of a new car buy installing new *stock* parts everywhere in your coug our tbird. Its just plain impossible. You could revamp the entire drivetrain/engine/suspenstion and still come out ahead.
Hooligans! 
1988 Crown Vic wagon. 120K California car. Wifes grocery getter. (junked)
1987 Ford Thunderbird LX. 5.0. s.o., sn-95 t-5 and an f-150 clutch. Driven daily and going strong.
1986 cougar.
lilsammywasapunkrocker@yahoo.com

Help !! - 88 Tbird Engine compartment, parts lost..:(

Reply #24
So far, I couldn't find any reason why everything from the motors shouldn't work, except for the balancer and the AC lines from a SC. All the part #s are listed for an 88 and up. But without seeing the motors up close, we may not be seeing an important difference.
[SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]
***** Project "EVOLUTION" 1987 Cougar LS  & 1985 Cougar Convertible *****
[/COLOR]
5.0 HO 306 roller block, machined GT-40P heads, Wiseco dished forged pistons, Eagle forged floating I-beam connecting rods, Lunati pushrods, ARP bolts, Scorpion aluminum 1.6 rockers, Comp Cams Magnum 266HR, Explorer intake, 65mm TB, MAF Conversion, 19# injectors, Ford Racing stainless P-headers, 2-1/2" cat-less exhaust w/ Flowtech Afterburner lers , SC AOD with 2800 BDR torque converter, 3.73 T-Lok rear, CHE rear control arms, full 2-1/2" frame w/1" jacking rails & seat supports, Rear disk brakes, Turbine wheels, All original interior w/ floor shift upgrade .......
Pretty much every panel on my 87 is new, rebuilt, or re constructed. :D
Join us on Facebook

Help !! - 88 Tbird Engine compartment, parts lost..:(

Reply #25
Cougar8775 has a 90 SC, maybe we can get him to snap some pics of his for a reference point.
[SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]
***** Project "EVOLUTION" 1987 Cougar LS  & 1985 Cougar Convertible *****
[/COLOR]
5.0 HO 306 roller block, machined GT-40P heads, Wiseco dished forged pistons, Eagle forged floating I-beam connecting rods, Lunati pushrods, ARP bolts, Scorpion aluminum 1.6 rockers, Comp Cams Magnum 266HR, Explorer intake, 65mm TB, MAF Conversion, 19# injectors, Ford Racing stainless P-headers, 2-1/2" cat-less exhaust w/ Flowtech Afterburner lers , SC AOD with 2800 BDR torque converter, 3.73 T-Lok rear, CHE rear control arms, full 2-1/2" frame w/1" jacking rails & seat supports, Rear disk brakes, Turbine wheels, All original interior w/ floor shift upgrade .......
Pretty much every panel on my 87 is new, rebuilt, or re constructed. :D
Join us on Facebook

 

Help !! - 88 Tbird Engine compartment, parts lost..:(

Reply #26
Thanks Haystack and Daminc,

There's internally balanced 3.8 engine on 1994-1997 Fords. Summit has two versions of dampers available, I still doubt if they fit ? I emailed couple companies and ask if they have 1988 balancer. We'll see what happens. I sure would like to know how does it look like !

On Ford parts list it says E8SZ6B321-A Damper and pulley assembly??

Help !! - 88 Tbird Engine compartment, parts lost..:(

Reply #27
Quote from: maandy;293641
Nice to see nabers in this forum !
tervetuloa!
Best wishes from Estonia !

Thanks, nice to see that there are US car enthusiasts in Estonia too ! :bowdown: